Few works of art make you tear up.
Even fewer works of art leave such a lasting impact.
Bokura Ga Ita is the best shoujo manga that I have ever read.
The plot at first seems to be very simple. The protagonist is Nanami Takahashi, a cheerful high school student who always gives her best. Her aim in high school is to make lots of friends and live a life filled with fun memories. But then she comes across our hero- Motoharu Yano.
Everyone is obsessed with Yano, all the girls of his class like him. But Nanami’s first impression of him is horrible. She starts disliking him.
But soon she starts seeing that he isn’t such a bad guy after all, and she falls in love with him. But she doesn’t know that Yano has a dark past. His girlfriend in middle school died in a car crash while she was her ex-boyfriend.
What follows is a lovely story of feelings and emotions. It’s about how Nanami deals with Yano’s mixed emotions towards his dead girlfriend and his love for Nanami. There are so many intricate facets to this story that it brings out the human in the characters. It’s a slice of life manga and very realistic.
Another amazing part of this manga is the running theme of memories. I don’t want to give away too many spoilers but at some point in the manga, there is a time skip. The quotes that the author writes about existence and memories are incredibly deep and profound.
One of the quotes are.
“Am I a memory, or is the memory you? Are we nothing but a collection of our memories?”
This manga is a journey of friendship (between Yano and his best friend Takeuchi-kun), romance, happy times, and tears. I guarantee you will shed several tears while reading this. You can also see the anime until chapter 32 and continue reading the manga.
The art is very simplistic and may not be everyone’s taste. Yano isn’t as gorgeous as some other shoujo boys. But the story more than makes up for it, and I prefer simplistic art. The female lead is very strong. She speaks her mind to Yano and has shown great character and will.
I would rate this manga a 10/10.
Menaka Writes 